Definitely won't be hard. He was PATHETIC over the weekend, at Teva Mtn Games. I passed him about 1/4 into the race, and he was suffering bad! Unless he gets some serious time in, he might not even finish!

Kicking while down

Originally Posted by mtbjedi1

Definitely won't be hard. He was PATHETIC over the weekend, at Teva Mtn Games. I passed him about 1/4 into the race, and he was suffering bad! Unless he gets some serious time in, he might not even finish!

Nice. Would this be the highlight of your career? Irrespective of his guilt or innocence, Floyd Landis deserves a bit more respect than would be seem to be displayed in the quote above. Raising yourself by pulling those down around you is PATHETIC. At least he'll be there and trying, irrespective of your approval and prognostication. If Landis wins so be. If Dave Weins or someone else wins, so be it. There is nothing PATHETIC in putting yourself on display for the world or whomever to see in the crucible of competition. Good luck and have a great race to all.

Respect? Why should any of us, racers or riders, respect someone who has made a mockery of our sport? Irrespective of guilt or innocence, he is the face of what cycling has become; a joke to much of the world. No, I'm not raising myself at his expense, it's not about me. My point was that his fitness was lacking, and he'd better do some training in order to be competative.

Landis will get my respect regardless of how the media portrays all this. He is caught in a system that is flawed and regardless of his appeal result he will always be a Tour winner to me.
Why? Because former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis admitted using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour in 1996. He said he is willing to give his yellow jersey back. And what did Pat McQuaid, the president of cycling's international governing body say? Keep it. You will not be stripped of the championship. This is a double standard plain and simple.

Anyway sorry to rant. I would just love to see any of the race -- regardless of who participates

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle. -- Confucius
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Come join me at the Swamp

How does an obvious lack of fitness reflect respect, or the lack thereof? Floyd said himself that he is out of shape. No shame in that, he has had a rough few months. But that does not change the fact that his fitness is nowhere near where it was last July.

He got whooped last weekend. No two ways to look at it. If he wants to compete for a win at Leadville, or any other MTB race, he'd do well to get that fitness back.

I don't see how stating these facts shows a lack of respect for Floyd.

Definitely won't be hard. He was PATHETIC over the weekend, at Teva Mtn Games. I passed him about 1/4 into the race, and he was suffering bad! Unless he gets some serious time in, he might not even finish!

Aw, give the guy a break. He had a hip replacement. That is major surgery. The guy is lucky to be out of a wheelchair.

I applaud the guy for even entering.... I guess as long as he shows up and does his best.

Respect? Why should any of us, racers or riders, respect someone who has made a mockery of our sport? Irrespective of guilt or innocence, he is the face of what cycling has become; a joke to much of the world.

Guilty until proven innocent, eh? Illegal drug use is not unique to cycling. It's a problem in most sports.

My concern is for the race

LT100 has a great history and a cult like following and I'd like to keep it out of controversy.. Like him, don't like him; Floyd is a suspended rider. As a result he cannot particpate in USAC sactioned races until his USADA/WADA cases are resolved that is why he was at Teva games. Ken- of LT100- has expressed a desire to have Floyd there irrespective of USAC's sanctions. Given the current climate, I would hate to have a disagreement between Ken and USAC that results in LT100 not being a USAC event next year.

As for Floyd's case, the more I read on the subject the more cycling has made itself a mockery. If you read WADA rules, positive in one lab may not be positive in another. The French lab managed to produce a mean and a standard devation that were essentially the same number. How much reliability is there in data like that?

LT100 has a great history and a cult like following and I'd like to keep it out of controversy.. Like him, don't like him; Floyd is a suspended rider. As a result he cannot particpate in USAC sactioned races until his USADA/WADA cases are resolved that is why he was at Teva games. Ken- of LT100- has expressed a desire to have Floyd there irrespective of USAC's sanctions. Given the current climate, I would hate to have a disagreement between Ken and USAC that results in LT100 not being a USAC event next year.

Given that, in the end, I bet he doesn't race.

Originally Posted by grayling

As for Floyd's case, the more I read on the subject the more cycling has made itself a mockery. If you read WADA rules, positive in one lab may not be positive in another. The French lab managed to produce a mean and a standard devation that were essentially the same number. How much reliability is there in data like that?

Agreed. As a quality professional, I'm appalled at all of this especially since a false positive can ruin one's career.

I don't doubt that Landis has doped just like all the others but I don't think they caught him for the right stuff. There are a lot of inconsistencies in lab results and all the leaks. I think they were going to make him guilty of doping no matter what. I don't like all the doping but at least catch riders fair. What would we find out if football and baseball players were tested like cyclists?

I'm not sure Ken and Merilee need NORBA. They provide a few officials and insurance but that can be found else where. I would be willing to guess for at least half of the racers the Leadville 100 is their only NORBA race of the year.